Situation:

- e.l.f. returned to the Big Game with its second-ever commercial: Judge Beauty. We brought e.l.f.’s brand world to life through the lens of courtroom drama, casting Judge Judy Sheindlin and an ensemble of characters to make the case for affordable cosmetics for all.

Brief:

- e.l.f. enlisted our agency for the second consecutive year to concept, script, cast, produce, shoot and edit the Big Game spot, with an integrated omni-channel campaign that lasted months.

- Our charge was to tap into real-time culture to hero their best selling product of 2023, Halo Glow Liquid Filter, and cast talent who reflected conversations of the moment.

Objectives:

- Rewrite the Big Game entertainment playbook, bringing e.l.f.’s values to the stage through our creative.

- Reimagine how beauty shows up in entertainment, sports and culture, illustrating e.l.f.’s belief that beauty belongs to everyone.

What if we reimagined the cultural institution of daytime courtroom TV through the lens of beauty? Welcome Judge Beauty, presiding over e.l.f. Court and setting the record straight on beauty truths.

The slogan: IN E.L.F. WE TRUST. The mission: Serve EYES.LIPS.FACTS.

A courtroom was the perfect setting to amplify e.l.f.’s strong value system with real authority and our message to the industry at large: e.l.f. objects to overpriced makeup.

The plaintiff, Rick Hoffman (Suits), accuses our Defendant, Gina Torres (Suits), of wasting company funds on overpriced makeup. Gina confesses to spending $92 on luxury foundation and is found “Guilty!” of reckless spending. Judge Beauty sentences her to “$14 glowy skin” through e.l.f. best-seller, Halo Glow Liquid Filter – thus supporting e.l.f.’s core brand value of making beauty accessible to every eye, lip and face.

To reflect e.l.f.’s national TV buy this year, we found a timely pop-culture “house” to embed and deliver a clear brand message: quality beauty does not need to come at a high price.

Cultural insights and audience viewing data around the fanfare of courtroom drama helped shape the creative framework for Judge Beauty.

For casting, while e.l.f. has a stronghold on Gen Z, part of their mission is to attract new audiences. We opened up the aperture to reflect e.l.f.’s community today and all who are invited, and we cast a roster that reflected the brand’s values of accessibility to all and diversity.

Finally, e.l.f. is a brand deeply embedded in social conversations and trends. In shaping our approach, we considered the culture of the beauty-verse and leveraged digitally-native creators to extend the campaign’s reach and impact beyond television.

Implementation:

- We honored courtroom TV by casting the #1 TV judge and reuniting a Suits trio.

- Social-first creators like Benny Drama extended the campaign beyond television.

- Our talent represented the “citizenry” of e.l.f. watching the Big Game at home.

Timeline:

- We filmed the case and brought the courtroom to life in seven weeks, from campaign shoot to spot reveal.

Placement:

- The 30s Hero Spot aired on Linear and Connected TV during the Super Bowl leading into the halftime show, as well as programming like The Oscars and Saturday Night Live – driving e.l.f.’s connection to culture.

- The 60s Hero Spot and myriad of social cutdowns were built for Digital and Social placement, and informed an OOH billboard in Hollywood.

Scale:

- Judge Beauty exceeded all previous brand benchmarks, becoming a cultural phenomenon that flooded the feeds and reached consumers new and familiar to e.l.f.

Brand Perception:

- Recognized by Adweek, Ad Age, GLAAD, and more for intergenerational casting from different demos to drive home an inclusive marketing message.

- Judge Beauty had the highest relevance rating of any 2024 Super Bowl ads tested, and a creative effectiveness score in the top 5% of the Ipsos database.

- 75% of women surveyed felt positive about e.l.f.’s commercial, and 67% wanted to learn more about the brand after viewing.

Achievement Against Business Targets:

- According to Ipsos, the e.l.f. ad exemplified leveraging celebrity power to support the brand's message and earned a Brand Attention Index Score of 145 (normal is 85 to 115).

Engagement:

- Directly following our ad, there was a 148% increase in traffic to e.l.f.’s site.

Sales:

- Site sales increased ~+50% YoY (Monday pre-Big Game vs. Sunday post-Big Game).

Reach:

- We’ve generated 105 billion media impressions to date.